The Rare Goodness of Sand
by TobyKikami
Summary: Mahaad the Dark Magician gathers a delegation of other Duel Monsters to go try and finagle the Millennium Ring from Bakura to find the fourth BEWD, Kisara. All hell breaks loose.
1. Default Chapter

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This fic takes place in the same universe as "Dragon at Midnight," though you don't need to read that to read this one. It's a sort of a weird mixture of dubbed anime and original manga.   
And if this sort of thing offends you, I'd better be upfront: the names of the duel monsters will be a combination of original and dub depending on how much the dub offends fandom and my personal sensibilities (Dark Magician and Lady of Faith will remain, while "Slifer" and "Dark Necrofear" will not). And they will refer to Yami B as "Bakura" and his other half as "Ryou." Please do not jump on me for this from the "nobody knows the latter's first name and certainly nobody calls him that" angle. This is for ease of reading, as the former was to the best of my knowledge known as "Bakura" in Egypt, and the whole "Yami" business tends to get rather tiresome if it goes on for a while. Although if it's a choice between that and not reviewing, please jack up my review count. 

SPOILERS: A number of spoilers for the Ancient Egypt arc. To the best of my knowledge, it has not been legitimately translated into English as of the publication of this fic, so there may be some confusion.   
In brief: Mahaad's name and previous career ARE canon. The existence of Diabound (AE!Bakura's kaa-spirit thing) and Kisara (AKA the BEWD girl) is also canon, though the fourth-dragon theory is probably not. 

WARNINGS: This fic will probably contain action and violence in future parts. Not to mention horrendous canon deviation and dumb references. 

**The Rare Goodness of Sand**   
Part One The Lady of Faith Elaine answered the door of Bakura's deck building; thank Ra, Mahaad thought, for small favors. She was Michael Gaia's lady fair and a fervent advocate of the Christian church - had Mahaad not already committed himself to the religion of Egypt three thousand years previous, he would most likely be a convert by now; she garnered that much respect.   
Gaia had initially insisted on coming himself, but had been dissuaded. This mission required abilities of subtlety and diplomacy in which he distinctly lacked, as did his fusion-partner, Hikari. After much agonizing, the current group had been put together.   
There was Jeremiah the Cannon Soldier with a child's mind, chaperoned by Dorcas, the Black Forest Witch; both were of Rebecca Hawkins's deck. Jeremiah, for once, was still, perhaps realizing the gravity of the situation. Their deck had been home to Kisara's card, after all. Next to them was Black Jade, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, currently in his human form and clad in leather and buckles. He, of course, was from Joseph Wheeler's.   
The Blue-Eyes White Dragon twins, Corundum and Tiamat - they had insisted on coming quite justifiably; it was their adopted sibling who might be returned to them, after all. They had sneaked out from their deck place in the early morning so as to spare their younger brother from any disappointment, and if they were indeed successful, to give him a pleasant surprise.   
And Mahaad himself, the Dark Magician, in a reasonable simulation of what he had worn as a priest back in Egypt. He'd done the last on a gamble; he wasn't quite sure what he was even gambling on, exactly. It was an impulse, like plunging your arm into a bucket of things and, without looking, selecting one that felt right.   
Elaine looked them over. "Oh, good morning," she said, without batting an eye. "Is there anything I can do for you?"   
"Yes, actually," said Tiamat, "there's quite a few things that we hope you can aid us with."   
"Terribly flattered. Would you mind telling me what?"   
Jade tilted his head. "Well, getting hold of the Millennium Ring, maybe? It's for a good cause."   
"Oh my. Would you like to come in and have some tea?" said Elaine. 

~~~ 

Celestina smiled that mismatched smile of hers. "Let's lay down the facts so everything's clear, shall we?"   
They were gathered around a rough-hewn wooden table, seated on dark red cushions. There was the visiting delegation, and there was the one Elaine had gotten together, which consisted of Man-Eater Bug, Dark Necrophia, and, naturally, Celestina herself.   
"You want," Celestina continued, "to _borrow_ the Millennium Ring. Not some harebrained scheme to run off and present it to the Pharaoh the minute you're out of sight. You want to borrow it, and if it's not returned you are fully prepared to accept the consequences?"   
Nods from six heads.   
"And you want it to try and find… Kisara? The fourth White Dragon?"   
Another round of nods. Mahaad focused on somewhere above Celestina's head and the tips of her wings.   
"Well," said Celestina, "I think that can be arranged." She turned to her two companions. "Azrael? Susan? Would you mind terribly seeking out Diabound and bringing him over? No, Rael, he can't hurt you, at least not permanently. Please get to it."   
Mahaad hadn't been aware he was breathing until he stopped. He knew he'd have to resume in a while, but for now he caught it out of sheer shock. If you nearly get killed by the attack of something, you tend to remember it. By the time he'd gotten back to breathing normally enough to make some kind of a protest (but what kind, exactly?), Diabound had passed through the wall. Whereupon it caught on something again. Consequence being he kept silent.   
"More tea?" said Elaine. Mahaad nodded; it was the only thing he trusted himself to do.   
Now Celestina was standing; Diabound had bent down and she whispered in his ear for a bit, then he whispered back (somehow, he managed it). Once he had finished she nodded and smiled delightedly. "Oh, thank you! You're such a darling!"   
Once Diabound had gone she turned to the delegation. "He said he'll be back with the Ring in under an hour. He's a Kaa, you see, and he's got prerogatives Out There, so you needn't talk to Master Bakura at all- oh, what's the matter? You've gone pale."   
"Are you sure," said Mahaad, "this is quite safe?"   
"Oh, don't be silly, Mahaad," she said. "I'm sure Master Bakura won't mind if you only borrow it." 


	2. 

AUTHOR'S NOTES: First off, thanks for the reviews.   
Alex Warlorn: Disbound? Never heard of it. If it wasn't made into a card, I'm not surprised. 

Part Two Diabound, true to his word, was back with the Ring in fifteen minutes. Celestina took it, thanked him, turned to Mahaad and dropped it. Mahaad caught it in outstretched hands; it lay glowing and slightly searing his palms.   
Celestina finally ceased her hold on Diabound's neck. "You're wonderful." She beamed up at him. "An absolute darling! Thank you ever so much!" Diabound made an embarrassed noise in response. "Elaine, have you- oh yes, thank you!"   
Elaine slid a paper, the ink barely dried, over to the delegation. It was looked over and quickly signed. A ballpoint that wrote smoothly on the first go emerged from one of Jeremiah's robotic arms. Dorcas conjured a quill and bottle of ink. Tiamat opened her satchel and extracted a pair of dark blue fountain pens, one of which she handed to her brother. After Corundum scribbled his agreement he passed the pen to Black Jade along with the paper. Jade nodded in gratitude and took a minute or thereabouts to form a careful signature. When he had done, after a confirming glance at Corundum, both items continued to Mahaad. The end of the line. 

~~~ 

_ Corundum Snow, Tiamat Snow, Black Jade, Dorcas, Jeremiah, and Mahaad, henceforth referred to as the Search Party, as thinking individuals acting of their free will, state that they are borrowing the Millennium Ring from the duelist Ryou Bakura and his other. Celestina, Azrael, and Susan, acting as intermediaries, have agreed to permit the Search Party use of the Ring in their search for one Kisara, under the following conditions-_   
_ -Once Kisara has been located and is safe, the Ring is to be returned at the earliest opportunity. It is perfectly OK to delay until after the welcome-home party._   
_ -They will not, if it is at all possible, surrender the Ring to Yugi Motou or his other, Seto Kaiba or any other he may possess, Malik Ishtar or, in the event of a miracle, his other. This also applies to any individual who will most likely use it against Ryou Bakura or his other._   
_ -They will not, if it is at all possible, use the Ring to themselves harm Ryou Bakura or his other, or any under their protection._   
_ -They may use the Ring to take a corporeal form Out There if their search necessitates such an action and if it is within their ability. Please use it carefully, however. And tell us how to do it._   
_ I believe that covers it._

~~~ 

Mahaad when signing things normally would have made Jade's penmanship look absolutely slapdash and careless, but instead he scrawled his name, tossed the pen back to Corundum after capping it, gave Celestina the paper, and then realized he hadn't let go of the Ring the entire time. It was very good fortune nobody teased him about it; he thought he might well have died on the spot if they had done so.   
Susan smiled, which probably didn't have the effect she intended. "So now that that's done with, best of luck to you."   
"I'll be praying, perhaps that'll be of help." Elaine, naturally.   
Said Diabound, "Look down."   
He'd once again popped off through a wall before anyone managed to open a mouth to ask what in the world he was talking about. Jeremiah looked down. "I don't see her."   
Dorcas busied herself with un-conjuring the quill and bottle. "Don't take it too seriously, Jerry. I expect it's meant to be some sort of mystic proverb gobbledygook."   
Celestina shrugged. "He's a character. He does this sort of thing sometimes. He's a Kaa, he's got-"   
"Prerogatives," said Tiamat. "We know."   
After assorted good-byes, they stepped out in the fog, which began to close around Bakura's deck building.   
Jade nodded at Mahaad. "Well? You do the honors."   
"Wait," said Dorcas. "Shouldn't we get others?"   
"No call to have an army trampling about." Corundum picked up the pair of picnic hampers left by the gate and handed one to his sister; it was almost funny knowing the power that could topple a god was currently a pair of skinny seventeen-year olds. "We'll just do this quiet, and if nothing comes of it we'll just bring them the Ring and go. We can say we were having a picnic."   
Tiamat folded her arms. "And then our brother will have sulks about not getting to come on it…"   
"I never said it was a perfect story." He shrugged. "Pratibha Maha Vailo and Ryuunosuke can be trusted to keep quiet when it bombs, though. Who else did you tell?"   
Jeremiah beeped. "Emmett and Kage."   
Jade raised a hand. "The Graceful Charities. And Sandy and Geoff."   
Corundum blinked. "Sandy? You do mean Sapphire's friend Sandy?"   
"Yeah."   
"Well, so much for secrecy, then, it'll be all over the-"   
"I made them promise not to tell," Jade assured him. "Honor bright. And Geoff's Mikey's cousin, anyway. How about you, Mahaad?"   
"Michael and Hikari."   
Dorcas lifted an eyebrow. "Not Mana?"   
"What, should I have?"   
"Oh no," she said quickly, "it's just that she is your apprentice, and-"   
"It's just that she also has a mouth the size of the British Isle," put in Corundum. "It was very sensible of you not to tell her, Mahaad." Pause. "Well? What are you waiting for?"   
He still remembered how to do it, and the Ring helped him along. He thought Kisara, fair hair and blue eyes and that sweet sad smile, and the pointers all jerked to the right.   
The search commenced. 

~~~ 

"Welcome back, Master Bakura, and good morning."   
"And a very good morning to you, Elaine," he snapped back as if automatically. "Ah, Diabound, there you are. Looking strong as ever, I see." Embarrassed nod from Diabound, who at that moment wished very much to shrink away. "You're all looking well," Bakura continued. "Now, then. I seem to have… misplaced something."   
"What, the deck?"   
"Don't be impertinent, Azrael." Azrael cringed back into Susan, who fell down with a yelp.   
"Can't you just use the Ring to find it?" said Celestina. "Isn't that one of the things it does? Oh. I see. You lost it."   
"Oh," said Susan, dusting herself off. "That's not good."   
"You're damn right it's not good!"   
Elaine blinked. "But won't it come back? I thought it did that sort of thing."   
"Apparently it doesn't here."   
"Oh my." A double blink. "But… if the Ring's gone… how are you here?"   
"Emergency measures, Lady Elaine," he told her smartly before settling back into the expression suggesting high displeasure with the world. "And you haven't an inkling where it's gone?"   
"Not exactly where, no," said Celestina, "But you needn't worry, Master Bakura. It's not lost, it's borrowed." If that had been intended to reassure him, it backfired rather badly.   
"What do you mean, it's borrowed? You actually let someone lay hands on-"   
"Oh, they agreed not to give it to Yugi or Kaiba or nothing-"   
"Shut up, Azrael."   
"Shutting up."   
"And who is they?"   
"Mahaad, Corry, Mat, Jade, Dorcas and Jeremiah. They signed and everything." Celestina presented him with the paper and exchanged glances with Azrael and Susan, who nodded.   
He was muttering now, but Diabound heard him as loud as if he had shouted. Or maybe he had only thought it. "'Intermediaries,' is it? I'll just have a discussion with them, won't I, concerning what is not all right to lend out and-"   
Only then he realized Diabound and Elaine were the only ones now in the room.   
"Of course," he said – or perhaps he didn't. "Why didn't I think of it before? I'll just need to repossess it…" He concentrated, a big puff of hot pink smoke went up, and when it cleared…   
Bakura stood there looking even more disgruntled than he had previously. He looked down at the paper, then up again. "Tell me, Lady Elaine, from what deck do these individuals acting out of free will originate?" 


End file.
